The invention relates to a method for attaching detachable snells to a fishing line while the line system is being set out from a moving vessel at sea, as recited in the preamble of the appurtenant method claim. Further, the invention comprises an apparatus for carrying out the method, as recited in the preamble of the appurtenant apparatus claim.
Attempts have been made previously to connect a fishing line and snells during the actual setting of the line in the sea from a moving vessel. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,184, a snell is shown with a snap-on clamp at one end thereof intended to be snapped onto a line between two stop means, or optionally onto a snell-formed stop means provided on the line. This snap-on clamp can be connected and disconnected either manually or mechanically. However, the patent does not show an apparatus for an automatic attachment of snells on the line as the line is being set out.
From the applicant's Norwegian Pat. No. 138,976, cooperating coupling members are known for attaching a snell to a line as recited in the introduction of the description, and from the applicant's Norwegian patent application No. 78.2033, an apparatus is known for attaching detachable snells to a line while the line is being set from a moving vessel at sea. This apparatus comprises a guide member, pivotable back and forth, for advancing rings with attached snells, one at a time, from a magazine to a point at which a peg on the running line is brought into engagement with the ring, the peg being retained in a holder on a slide member which is pulled forward by the peg to the said point, wherein the ring, during the further movement of the peg and slide member, is pushed down into a locked position on the peg, and the peg holder on the slide and the peg are subsequently disconnected as the slide abuts against a fixed stop means such that the peg becomes detached from the slide abuts against a fixed stop means such that the peg becomes detached from the slide. The slide is then pulled back by means of an attached spring which has become extended during the advancement operation and is thus ready to receive a new peg on the line. The slide, via a transfer member, for example, a stay pivotally attached to the slide, is connected to the feed member for the ring, such that the advancement of rings from the magazine is synchronized with the movement of the peg forward to the connection point. The pivotable ring advancing member can also be provided with a spring for returning it to its starting position. This apparatus has a number of parts which move back and forth, and these may sometimes move sluggishly or lock up under the conditions in which the apparatus is used at the fishing grounds, and the costs of producing it are also relatively large.